Buckhorn - Donner Pass/Lookout Mountain (success)

I'm on a goal to tackle all the various trails that I had to turn back on earlier in the year because of snow.  This time it was the Donner Pass/Lookout Mountain trail I attempted back in March.  This trail is fairly close to home, only about an hours drive, up Buckhorn road to the Buckhorn Ranger Station.  Buckhorn Ranger Station is closed.

The trail is a moderate one but is a consistent climb.  In addition the trail was damaged in the September 2013 rains, so all the topsoil was scoured off and now the trail is mostly rocks and roots.  This time there was plenty of vegetation and no snow.

Plenty of plants!

It appears this area has, at one time been heavily logged.  I fact, I encountered a pile of rough cut lumber.  Hmm, I wonder how many winters of firewood is there?

Lumber pile

This is such a good time of year to hike, everything is green and there are wildflowers everywhere.  I even found a mushroom or two.

Everything is blooming

Single flower

I wish I knew my flower name

Mushrooms - very large

The trail was easy to follow most of the way.  There were good signage, albeit one was pretty faded.

Major trail junctions

What exactly does this say?

However, soon after passing this sign the trail became quite faint and I finally lost it.  So I decided to bushwhack my way to Lookout Mountain's summit.  That turned out to slow me down considerably, but I did make it to the top.  WOW, what views!!!

There was even a summit log that I just had to sign.

I decided to not just retrace my bushwhack path up, but try a different approach.  That turned out to be quite an adventure as you can see in the GPS track.  Glad I had my GPS, compass, and map!  The return trip was almost all downhill.

The views from the summit of Lookout Mountain made this trip well worthwhile.

Overall Track Statistics for track DonnerPass-Lookout Mtn

 Length 11.426 miles

 Start Elevation - 8317.49 feet

 Maximum Elevation - 10602.59 feet

 Minimum Elevation - 8258.83 feet

 Date of Hike - Jul 24, 2015

 Start Time - 08:12 AM

 End Time - 02:40 PM

 Total Duration -     6:27 hours:min

 Total Ascent - 3070.90 feet

 Total Descent - 3125.46 feet

 Net Ascent - -54.56 feet

 Maximum Grade - 19.58%

 Average Speed -  1.77 mph

 Maximum Ascent over Mile - 665.58 feet

 Maximum Speed over Mile -  2.90 mph

 Maximum Gain over Mile (%) - 11.87%

Buckhorn - Donner Pass / Lookout Mountain

The weather was nice and had been for quite a few days.  From home, it looked like a lot of snow had melted off the mountains.  Several trails and roads up near the Buckhorn Ranger Station had been closed since the September, 2013 flood and the High Park Fire of 2012, but a few had opened in the last few months.  I decided it was time to head up that way.  I picked the Donner Pass/Lookout Mountain trail since it was almost all under 10000 ft and, at least on the map, the climb didn't look too much.  I decided to leave the YakTrax and the snowshoes at home this time.  I knew I was taking a chance, but decided I could always try again if the snow got too deep.  As usual I ran into road construction & repair from the 2013 flood on Buckhorn road between Masonville and Stove Prairie; however, it didn't take too long to get up to the Buckhorn Ranger Station.  You could easily spot Lookout Mountain and from here it didn't look too bad.

Buckhorn Ranger Station

I had gotten a fairly early start and the road in had been wet and frozen, but not too bad.  I was thinking it could be pretty muddy and difficult later in the day when all the frozen mud melted.  I meandered over a creek and headed to the trailhead.  The initial stages of the trail were what I expected, not too steep and well defined.  I also knew from my map that the trail would intersect Greer Road about a quarter of the way and Old Ballard Road about halfway to Lookout Mountain.

Donner Pass TH

Donner Pass Trail (1)

Donner Pass Trail (2)

As you can see there was snow cover, but not much.  The trail to Greer Road was easy going, although there was a small valley to traverse.  Once crossing Greer Road the trail became less obvious and there were multiple tracts of private land with quite a few "Keep Out" and "No Trespassing" signs.

Trail after Greer Road

I continued on up the trail without seeing any obvious turns and junctions.  However, I encounter a fairly robust "Keep Out" sign that made me wonder if I had missed a junction.  Between reviewing my map and my GPS I was pretty sure I had missed a junction somewhere.  So, I tramped around looking for some sign or other tell of a trail junction, but to no avail.  I knew the trail was above me on the ridge so I decided to start climbing in the hopes I would eventually encounter the trail.  After about ten minutes of off trail climbing, I soon discovered the trail again.  So off I went.

As I continued, I soon began climb more steeply and steadily.  The snow started to become noticeable, but still not too bad; about 6 inches or so.  I crossed over Ballard Road and began an even more steady climb.  The snow kept getting deeper and deeper.  Soon I was post-holing up to my knees.  It doesn't take long to wear out in that kind of situation.  

Knee-deep snow & Post-holing

with no end in sight

So close, yet so far

At this point, the hike was really not a lot of fun and I knew I would be exhausted before I was to Lookout Mountain.  In addition, progress was slow, so I would also run out of time before I needed to head home anyway.  So, I decided to turn around and return another day when there wasn't so much snow on the ground.  I had about another two miles to reach the summit of Lookout Mountain.  I will definitely attempt to tackle this one again later in the year.

Length 7.664 miles
 Start Elevation - 8274.11 feet
 Maximum Elevation - 9365.32 feet
 Minimum Elevation - 8230.81 feet
 Date of hike -  3/20/2015
 Start Time - 8:33 am
 End Time - 1:23 pm
 Total Duration -     5:50 hours:min
 Total Ascent - 2160.60 feet
 Total Descent - 2167.45 feet
 Net Ascent - -6.86 feet
 Maximum Grade - 24.94%
 Average Speed -  2.32 mph
 Maximum Ascent over Mile - 2160.60 feet
 Maximum Speed over Mile -  3.93 mph
 Maximum Gain over Mile (%) - 12.74%